This invention relates to loop material, particularly to material to be engaged with hooking members to form a fastening, to its manufacture and use, and to fasteners comprising such loop material.
In the production of woven and non-woven materials, it is common to form the material as a continuous web that is subsequently spooled. In woven and knit loop materials, loop-forming filaments or yarns are included in the structure of a fabric to form upstanding loops for engaging hooks. As hook-and-loop fasteners find broader ranges of application, especially in inexpensive, disposable products, some forms of non-woven materials have been suggested to serve as a loop material to reduce the cost and weight of the loop product while providing adequate closure performance in terms of peel and shear strength. Nevertheless, cost of the loop component has remained a major factor limiting the extent of use of hook and loop fasteners.
To adequately perform as a loop component for touch fastening, the loops of the material must be exposed for engagement with mating hooks. Unfortunately, compression of loop material during packaging and spooling tends to flatten standing loops. In the case of diapers, for instance, it is desirable that the loops of the loop material provided for diaper closure not remain flattened after the diaper is unfolded and ready for use.
Also, the loops generally should be secured to the web sufficiently strongly so that the loop material provides a desired degree of peel strength when the fastener is disengaged, and so that the loop material retains is usefulness over a desired number of closure cycles. The desired peel strength and number of closure cycles will depend on the application in which the fastener is used. For example, a higher number of closure cycles is typically required when the fastener is used in a bag closure than when the fastener is used in a diaper closure.
The loop component should also have sufficient strength, integrity, and secure anchoring of the loops so that the loop component can withstand forces it will encounter during use, including dynamic peel forces and static forces of shear and tension.